funkypancake: November 2009 Archives

christmas in new zealand
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I have to say it's very weird having christmas in new zealand

not only do they have a masked santa (he's been unmasked now) but it seems the world doesn't really stop to celebrate

unless you celebrate with a KFC turkey basket ?

protect the planet
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our packers had packed our globe nicely between four cushions.

i wonder whether the packer felt really pleased with his efforts on this. i know i would if that was my job.

and what we've ended up with is an over-protected world.

funky letter boxes
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there are so many funky letter boxes in new zealand i've started a new category for them. here are a couple we saw yesterday. sure beats a flap in your front door (even if ours has a cockroach living in it).

the container arrives
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woohoo. our container with all our stuff arrived from the UK last wednesday (when i was away for a night in Wellington)

i've finally got my desktop PC back.

and unpacking is a major task. and really noisy with all that paper rustling.

i still find it completely amazing that this metal box wobbled all the way across the oceans to get here. but now it's here, and so are we. guess we're serious about staying then !

contained
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our container reached auckland docks on sunday evening.

auckland harbour is right in the middle of the city, so i thought i'd see if i could find it

this is the view from a boat as we went by last saturday

i did manage to find a cruise ship though

but at the end of the day, on the way home, i spotted our NYT boat as the bus went over the harbour bridge

the container itself is due to arrive at our house on wednesday and thursday.

funky dog hooks
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net inter
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it's not good and it's certainly not pretty

be proud in your steps
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more amazing new zealish mannequins
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new zealand new danger
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dog seats
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shark
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i'm not sure whether this is the result of a shark eating a bus, or whether it's a real shark with wheels on. either way, i'm glad this isn't the bus i get to work

a trip to rangitoto island
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here is rangitoto island (one of) our local dormant volcanoes.

we got there by boat

and everything was very crusty

even the spiders' webs were weird

and the ferns roll themselves up in to kidney shapes to keep cool

here's the hole down the middle of the volcano at the top

it was quite a walk to get to the top but worth it

here's auckland town

and here's the bridge i go across in the bus to get to work

we had a picnic up the top. our picnic was mostly very nice sandwiches made by mrs funkypancake. but this lady next to us had a pot with curry and cooked peas which she ate with proper cutlery. we couldn't compete with that.

interestingly the path round the rim of the crater was made of red soil.

this is a cat trap.

and this is a sign about rubbish

we explored some lava caves with torches (mrs funkypancake had read the brochure beforehand and so took her head torch)

we emerged at the end of the lava caves to see this sign

then it was a tramp through the dark forest

and back down the hill and through the lava fields

it wasn't a hugely hot day, but these volcanic stones really absorbed the heat

and it's good to know prisoners built a toilet door

we also saw a flip flop tree

an abandoned concrete thrown

and a geocaching travelbug

sky tower
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spring cleaning
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good use of the word 'wobbly' in a sign
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the lamp was nearly wobby, but on closer inspection it's wobbly. good

slightly frightening mannequin
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a break for internal adjustment
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"internal adjustment" is such a great phrase

mannequin looking highly suspicious
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best for small boats to get out of the way of big boats
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nice graffiti
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worth a click to see big

on the run
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we went to a horse race a few weeks ago

it was jolly good.

airnz mannequins
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there was a nice display of air new zealand uniforms throughout the ages at wellington airport a week or so back

i caught them just as they were being packed away

not sure about this last uniform ...

an idea for christmas
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i'm not sure if this the dress code i'd adopt for christmas day ...

we buy faulty laptop
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i'm not too sure how to interpret this sign. i think it's telling us they bought a faulty laptop, and it was such a disaster that you might suffer long queues and delays getting served in the shop ?

no wonder it's 'laptop' singular. they wouldn't want to make that mistake again.

guess the thing
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it's a shame comments are broken or i'd do a 'guess the thing' on this.

i'd not seen these before we moved to new zealand. I thought they must be funky radio aerials or something. but in fact they are just so the driver can judge the distance to the front of their car for parking / manooovering etc.

plants
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not sure if these are weeds or properly planted type plants, but they are very nice.

stop photographer !
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the view on the way to work
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this is what i see on the way to work

this is it with the tide out, often it's almost lapping up at the road

sure beats the M4 back in the UK

taking the car to work
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i've no idea why this car was in reception at level 6 of my office. i suspect it couldn't fit in the lift to get down to the carpark.

where to dry your trousers
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here are some shorts being dried on top of an airconditioning outlet.

street box graffiti
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this kind of graffiti of street boxes is very common.

no idea if it is real graffiti or not. looks nice though

moth trap
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auckland harbour
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this was the view out the window of a meeting i went to recently. bit distracting to be honest.

perceive of the draw guide
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they say new zealand is like britain was 30 years ago. that's certainly true when it comes to the instructions provided with the flat pack furniture

Insert the tenon of the back rest into the mortize of the seat rest. For more understand this instruction, perceive of the draw guide.

all nicely completed in time for the next passing shower (which solved the problem of whether we'd ever leave the seats and table out in the rain or not).

celebrity restaurant endorsement
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i love restaurants which have pictures, often signed, by previous clients. this one jumped out at me as being particularly special.

this restaurant, ladies and gentlemen, was visited by ... [pauses for effect and to gain composure] ... no less than the one and only, actual Bon Jovi in 1988.

we were proud to eat in a restaurant visited by such luminaries.

another day another beach
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this time Mission Bay, east auckland

kiwi dummy
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look ! it's my first kiwi dummy, found on a beach in east auckland.

why did I ever doubt they'd be nothing to photo over this end of the planet ?

Tweet - real time funkypancake updates ! (#5610324532)
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Man just accidentally emptied his bag on the bus as we swung round corner. Unity amongst passengers as we harvested and returned his items.

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Tweet - real time funkypancake updates ! (#5584541334)
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Back from a church meeting about being good dad. Now thinking of my own dad, his dad, me as a dad and God the dad as i tweet off to sleep

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Tweet - real time funkypancake updates ! (#5566093008)
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lady sitting nearby on the bus is planning a holiday in cambodia. Now can't get the song out of my head.

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how to diss a pier completed
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i don't mean to diss a pier, but this is nothing but a long plank on which to have a short walk.

a lovely lady (although perhaps a little strange)
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welcome to the best tyre company in new zealand
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there was no definition of 'best'

look at the font on that
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do they really use letraset on airplanes ?

electric boogaloo
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there's something not quite right about the joined hands here. unless they are body popping. or the one behind is chasing the one in front with a scythe

sisters of mercy
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i used to be a goth, a long time ago. and i loved the sisters of mercy. and i think i had a rather funky metal necklace which looked a bit like this too. small world.

you're going the wrong way
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what to do about ugly brides
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although it looks like the lady in the middle is dressed up as a circus dragon, she's in fact wearing a wedding dress, and the chap adjusting the umbrella is the groom. they were having their wedding photos taken and the umbrella blew inside out.

so there you go. the picture explained.

some birds
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it's a flying king fisher and a heron in down town auckland

two birds just like back in the UK. both common sights over here apparentlinio.

the flight to work
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as commutes go, it's quite a long one, but quite pretty on a nice day like last Friday when i had a day trip to wellington to my other office

here are some shots from the plane

airnz is great.

they have a really funny safety video which they show on short haul flights (you'll probably need to watch it twice on youtube here) and they give you a bag of sweets (which they call lollies, but there were no sticks to be seen)

and when it's nearly time to land they give you a boiled sweet. apparently airnz tried to withdraw these complementary sweets but the whole country revolted. so they were reinstated.

you've got to love a country which is completely laid back about everything except a free boiled sweets to protect your ears when on a plane.

going bang
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i think i'm right in saying fireworks are only on sale in NZ for 3 days before bonfire night, which is why it's a novelty and people get so excited about them. here's a chap setting up a firework display. if you click on the picture you can see he's a rather short fellow, perhaps having become a victim of his own success. he also seems to have wired his ears in to the detonators.

i just hope he's not a bomb disposal expert.

7 8 6 ?
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we all know that seven ate nine. but it looks like seven ate six here too. which is why it's so large.

beware of the scarey (scaredy?) cat
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i saw this sign out of the bus window last week as i commutted to work and thought to myself that i needed to get a picture of it. luckily we went out for a walk with our friend Abbie on Saturday afternoon and happened to walk by it ! so here it is in nice clearness rather than out the bus window wobblyness !

Tweet - real time funkypancake updates ! (#5524823154)
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great afternoon with big nosed ugly guy and his normal nosed beautiful family.

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Tweet - real time funkypancake updates ! (#5519005524)
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first time i've been on a metered broadband connection. we've used 1.5G in 4 days. suspect it's mostly video skyping. 8.5G for rest of nov

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Tweet - real time funkypancake updates ! (#5503177247)
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Wishing the fireworks would stop.

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fish and chips
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we went to our local fish and chips shop last night to get some, er, fish and chips. they had three different sorts of fish. one was snapper but we'd not heard of the rest. we went for two types and did some sampling. the jury was split. and rather confused.

sky tower between two trees
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perhaps my 'buildings between lamp posts' category needs to be expanded to include 'buildings between palm trees'

why you should never throw away an old pair of shoes
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these shoes have kicked themselves out of the inside of this recycling bin

herbivore or carnivore
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i had a day trip to Wellington last friday and went to a number of cafes throughout the day (it's where people do work). at lunch i had a burger at a fantastic little cafe, which gave plastic dinosaurs out rather than order numbers. nice idea.

bang
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we went to a firework display on friday night. bit of a late night as it doesn't get properly dark here until 9pm. but was worth the wait.

this is not a love shop
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this is the window display in a shop near my office called "this is not a love shop"

these two mannequins in the shop are covered in hair. fantastic stuff.

weeee !
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kids sit in these things and they spin round. except they are at an angle and they seem to have their momentum. so kids go on them, get themselves in to a flat spin and can't stop themselves. tremendous stuff !

no long legged dogs
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the rather worrying army surplus shop
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there's an army surplus shop near my new office and it's worryingly fantastic. everyone who works there is wearing the clothes on sale which makes finding an assistant a good challenge. I decided not to attempt to take any pictures in the shop in case i got attacked.

pay less for plastic
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i've no idea what this sign is about. it's not on a shop or anything. i think it's just a general statement !

Tweet - real time funkypancake updates ! (#5475044962)
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Watching the krypton factor whilst i wait for the pooter to be free

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Tweet - real time funkypancake updates ! (#5473553651)
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Or perhaps 9:00pm. We want fireworks !

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Tweet - real time funkypancake updates ! (#5473319355)
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Still waiting. problem of southern hemispherical fireworks in november is you have to wait until after 8:30 for it to be proper dark

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Tweet - real time funkypancake updates ! (#5473027414)
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Back in auckland at a horse race track waiting for the fireworks to start. Expecting it to be good #bigbangtheory

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"i'm sorry, i must leave you" he said
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who knew that new zealand is the comedy mannequin capital of the world ?

nz exclusive - i made my own leg
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he might have made his own bag, but you can 'make this bag'

just one umbrella (just arrived)
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stuffed bird with a little hat on
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a hedge
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i was expecting NZ to be hedgeless, but thankfully it isn't. in fact here's a lovely hedge with red flowers in it.

extreme sandcastle construction
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growing feet
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bread and milk combo
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ah. that classic combo. bread and milk. that'll be, er, milky bread sir.

admiring fridge freezers
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hopefully by the time you read this our new fridge freezer will have turned up. it's a fisher price one.

golden pash
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yes, they do have crazy golf
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delighted to find not one but two crazy golf establishments within 5 minutes drive from our house. this one even had multiple courses.

i suspect their proximity made be due to the number of pommy/uk settlers in this area. we all love a good crazy gold course.

we didn't think to ask why
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an actual chicken crossing an actual main road. a missed opportunity.

no parking
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we went to a farmer's market on sunday. it was very busy so we followed the signs to the parking, including this one pointing to the enterance (sic)

we drove that way please only to find the parking signs led to this very closed gate.

and yes, of course all the signs are upside down as we're down under !

can you believe it
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this is general recycling, not my own intake. honest.

thong modesty
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new zealand mannequins aren't letting us down at all. here's a cheeky little mannequin in a thong looking rather sheepish in the corner of a shop window for all to (nearly) see.

jane buys a local sockulator
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it's funny the things you miss. jane really missed her sockulator which is in our container (so we'll not see it until December). but we sourced a local one and our lives are once again complete.

have you got your post sorted yet ?
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here's one of the last pictures i took in the uk

you can make your own jokes up
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bin with neckerchief
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overlowing beaches
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here's a rather subtle overflow pipe. best not to walk underneath that one i think

7 lampstands groovy wireless show
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here's my old jingles cassette from when i was a proper radio dj. ah. the memories (which are best forgotten)

spotty bollard
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woolworth
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the reflection of the spar sign is quite poignant. as is the reflection of the word 'babes'. it's a tribute to my concentration that i didn't bother to turn round to see what the babes shop was. oh well.

fish postal service
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there's definitely a pun in here. any suggestions ?

dog sign
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esther in a tree
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ironing boards
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a bee's face down a microscope
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a cute dead thing
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these pictures are worth clicking on to see the cute dead thing in more detail

we did work out what it was, but then i forgot again. sorry

shrooms
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not entirely sure if these are mushers or toaders. but they look good anyroad updown.

scottish trees
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esther in the scottish countryside
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pharmacy in blue
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classic london street scene
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this has got it all. a couple of metropolitan police bollards, a rubbish bin, a twin faced post box, and an abandoned plastic cutlery tray. And it's literally in hopping distance to Tony Blair, ex president of the UK's, house. (no political comment intended)